[17/?] (Oops forgot to label last time, but that was obviously ch16 haha)
They’re halfway into their meal by the time the conversation feels more organic and natural. Craig can’t really tell if it’s because they’re growing more comfortable together or if it’s because they’ve delayed the inevitable discussion long enough. He takes another bite of his food. It’s the perfect bite. He got a little bit of chicken, some noodles, and even a grilled onion on his fork. He chews thoughtfully and it tastes so familiar. And yet, he’s not exactly feeling the same comfort as he normally would from the routine of eating the same junk food he always gets. It helps the situation a little, but overall… things are still weird.
“This is pretty good,” Tweek comments, twirling his plastic fork around inside the styrofoam container. “Is anything else on the menu good?”
“I dunno,” Craig snorts in reply because he really doesn’t. “I’ve only ever ordered this. But I order it all the time.”
“Really?” Tweek cracks a sideways sort of smile. “You only order the same thing?”
“Don’t see the need to order something else when I know I like this,” Craig shrugs.
“Hmph, but what if you’d like something better?” Tweek counters and pops a particularly large chunk of chicken in his mouth.
“But what if I order something and I don’t like it?” Craig frowns through his response. “That would be a waste of my time, money, and food.”
He watches Tweek chew for a moment and thinks about what Craig’s just said. It’s hard to keep frowning when Tweek looks just like a hamster with his cheek all puffed out like that.
“Kinda says a lot about you, don’t you think?” Tweek finally says when he’s swallowed his food.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Craig narrows his eyes defensively.
“What’s your favorite color?” Tweek snaps back with another question instead of answering.
“Uh… I dunno?” Craig blinks rapidly a few times, taken aback.
“Pick one.”
“Um, blue? I guess?”
“Interesting,” Tweek hums at this and goes back to fussing with his disposable fork. “You’re a very pragmatic person, aren’t you?”
Craig grunts in a noncommittal sort of way. He’s heard that word before, but he’s not really sure what it means. He also wouldn’t have guessed Tweek had this nearly shrewd and mysterious side to him. It’s pretty unclear to him if he’s been insulted or not. Since he doesn’t want to somehow veer this odd discussion into a distinctly negative realm and mess everything up somehow, he opts not to launch his own line of interrogation and instead busies himself with another heaping bite from his to-go box.
“I, hngh, I wouldn’t normally get food from this kind of place,” Tweek continues airily, and it prompts Craig to glance back up at him. “They put chemical additives in cheap Chinese food.”
“Rumors about MSG have been debunked multiple times, Tweek,” Craig states flatly.
“MSG?” Tweek raises an eyebrow. “No, dude, I know that stuff’s harmless. It’s the other stuff you gotta watch out for. They put addictive chemicals in there to make you buy it more often. You crave it, man. It’s all a conspiracy to boost the economy through the constant cycle of buying Chinese food and then needing more and more of it!”
“Addictive chemicals that make you want more of it,” Craig repeats skeptically. “Sounds like caffeine.”
“Augh, but coffee tastes good and helps people start their day,” Tweek gives him a genuine look that makes Craig realize he’s serious.
They stare at each other in mutual disbelief for a moment before Tweek carries on.
“Anyway,” he continues and finally drops his fork. “None of it really matters because I’m probably craving junk food from, ngh, you know… the hormones.”
Craig groans and drops his fork, too.
“Look, I know I already said all this, but I’m so sorry,” Craig doesn’t like the way his voice strains through the words. “That’s not the way this should have happened.”
“And I already said this, too, but it’s okay,” Tweek smiles, but it’s sort of a sad and distant expression rather than a sincere visage. “I mean, argh, I played my part in it. I’m trying not to think too much about it or, ngh, I start getting way too anxious.”
“Yeah, but,” Craig gestures vaguely, trying to fully express himself and struggling, “it was your first time. No one’s first should end up in a really drastic, life-altering situation.”
“True,” Tweek agrees. “Grarghgh, that’s just my luck though, man. Not only do I end up an omega, but I immediately end up pregnant! It’s like everything’s out to get me!”
“I mean my first time was pretty awful, but not this extreme,” Craig gives a dry chuckle. “I hooked up with a complete stranger and I started to knot within about 2 minutes.”
He’s said it before he realizes it slipped out. He doesn’t know why he admitted that– he’s never told anyone before and had pretty much planned on taking that embarrassing moment with him to the grave. Craig dips his head low and hopes he’s not flushing too noticeably. He tries to regain composure and hopefully brush it off.
“Hmm,” Tweek hums with a sagely, knowing smile and resumes idly pushing the noodles across the styrofoam container. “Yeah, I think everyone’s first time is pretty awkward. Hanhrgh, mine was definitely weird.”
Craig feels a sudden pain under his ribs. He wants to brush it off as the result of far too much sodium intake, but he can’t fool himself. Tweek just told him his first time was weird in such a nonchalant manner, right to his face. It stings and he can’t help but internally acknowledge it. An insecure voice rings in the back of his head and echoes with the words Annie spat at him earlier in the day. Maybe it’s true. Maybe no one wants him.
“Oh,” he says through a tight jaw. “I’m sorry you felt that way.”
Tweek squints at this and leans forward. He lifts the container from his lap and places it on the coffee table. Those gem-like eyes with the heavy bags below them study Craig in the most curious fashion and make him feel seen both inside and out in a way that gives him goosebumps.
“Wait,” Tweek speaks slowly, staring directly into Craig’s own eyes in a way that makes him squirm. “Did you think… Agh, did you think the other night was my first time…?”
“W-well,” Craig stammers uncomfortably. “It was your first heat.”
“Mmph, yeah, it was my first heat, dude,” Tweek tilts his head. “But it wasn’t my first time.”
“But it was your first heat?” Craig repeats himself as a question, his confusion mounting and slowly replacing the twinge of his briefly shattered ego.
“Craig…” Tweek begins slowly as if he’s carefully choosing his words. “Do you think… Ack! God, I hate saying this... I’m getting stressed! Do you… Do you think people only have sex to procreate?”
“No,” Craig scoffs immediately as if the implication is ridiculous. “Of course not. I’ve had a bunch of ruts and I can promise you I’ve never once tried to get someone pregnant. Even though… I sorta just did. Ugh.”
Tweek stares at him with those wide eyes for a bit longer, really scrutinizing him. It makes him feel distressingly perceived, and while it makes his skin crawl and his heartbeat race, he doesn’t particularly hate it to the point where he wants to make it stop. Tweek’s giving Craig that strange look again. It’s the one that he suspects makes Tweek think that if he ogles him long enough, he’ll suddenly know all the answers to everything. Craig doesn’t have the heart to admit that he’s feeling more lost than ever.
“Grgh,” Tweek visibly struggles to maintain his composure and prevent himself from having a nervous outburst over the discussion. “Do you only have sex, mnph, during a rut?”
“I mean, isn’t that pretty much the main time to have sex?”
“I guess,” Tweek agrees in a way that indicates he doesn’t really agree. “But what about betas?”
“What about them?” Craig narrows his eyes, failing to understand what that has to do with anything.
“Betas don’t have heats.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“They don’t have ruts, either,” Tweek tacks on, but Craig isn’t sure to what end.
He blinks a few times and he glances side to side.
“Grrr, Craig, I thought I was a beta until only a few days ago,” Tweek spells it all out for Craig, even though this has just been a series of facts he already knows.
“Okay…?”
“Craig, why aren’t you getting it?!” Tweek makes a hissing, squeaking kind of noise as he fails to get the point across to Craig. “Betas still have sex, man! They don’t go in cycles, dude. I’m telling you I’ve had sex before becoming an omega, why is that so hard to get?”
Craig suddenly feels very embarrassed. He, of course, knew all of this on some level before. It was never relevant to his personal experience, though, so he never really examined it very much. Of course, people have sex. Now he wonders if maybe he’s the weird one.
“I know,” he grumbles defensively. “It’s not like I’ve never slept with a beta.”
“Did you present early?” Tweek asks gently.
“Yeah,” Craig nods. “Pretty much went through both puberties back to back.”
“That makes sense,” Tweek nods. “So it’s like, why would you have considered anything else? Argh, our education system is a mess, man. It’s so mechanical, doesn’t teach anyone the um, ngh, you know, human aspect of it.”
“I guess,” Craig shrugs, but it’s less from indifference and more from the fact that he’s being faced with subject matter he’s never actively put thought to before.
“Anyway,” Tweek clucks his tongue and reels the conversation back in. “It was definitely my first time since presenting as an omega. And I’ve had time to think about it since then.”
Craig raises an inquisitive eyebrow at this and they make eye contact. It results in Tweek producing a truly terrible (yet somehow endearing) garbled, anxious laugh.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tweek jitters and wrings his hands. “It’s, urkh, basically all I’ve been able to think about. And the more I think about it, the more confusing it is?! I have so many questions, man. And I want to ask you questions but I don’t want to scare you away, I don’t think you have all the answers but maybe you have some of the answers and even if you don’t I want you to know about the questions! Wagghh! It’s all so much, oh Jesus, why am I saying all of this so suddenly?! I’m freaking out here, man! I can’t keep it in anymore!”
That was a lot just there, and Craig feels dizzy from the many concerns bled all together into one jumbly thought. But still, he tries to hone in and focus. Tweek’s breathing has, in an instant, gone from steady and normal to frantic and ragged. He’s noticeably shaking and his hands keep finding clumps of his own hair to tug on. Craig leans forward and remains calm.
“I’m listening,” Craig leans in and speaks softly yet firmly. “You’re not going to scare me away, dude.”
And Tweek responds immediately. He hiccups and jerks his neck to look back at Craig. His eyes search him for sincerity and Craig can only hope he’s exuding it for him. A moment flits by and then Tweek calms himself enough to speak up in a small voice.
“Why did I have to present as an omega?” Tweek laments. “Especially after I had finally, ugh, got a little bit comfortable with my life…”
“I don’t know,” Craig deadpans, not really prepared to have so immediately been unable to answer a question.
“Pfft, Craig,” Tweek gives him a cheeky little smile, even though his eyes are still a bit wistful. “It was a rhetorical question.”
“Oh.”
“But, angh, like I said before. The messed up thing is I really did like being in heat,” he slumps a bit as he admits it.
“Well,” Craig chews the side of his cheek thoughtfully. “I think we’re kinda programmed to like it, you know?”
“I guess,” Tweek agrees. “As out of control as I felt… For the first time in my life, I kinda felt like I was in control? Argh! That makes no sense. But… it felt right. Like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. Like I want to do it again.”
Craig mulls that over for a moment. While it doesn’t really reflect his general sentiments on how it feels to lose control to the swells of lust, he sort of somehow agrees with this. At least, that’s how he felt this last time around. He really felt like he was doing something right for once. Granted, it obviously backfired. But that feeling can’t be hollow, can it?
“Maybe that’s the hormones talking,” Tweek groans after a long moment of Craig’s lack of response.
“No, I was just thinking,” Craig waves a dismissive hand. “I… I agree, actually. It felt right. More right than usual.”
“I am pretty hormonal, though,” Tweek coughs up a single, ugly chortle that makes a stupid little smile pull at the corners of Craig’s lips through its absurdity.
It’s strange. By all accounts, he should feel much more stressed about that statement. He’s the very reason Tweek is hormonal, after all. But he doesn’t. The conversation is uncomfortable, as it sort of should be by design. But he’s not angry and he’s not feeling like he’s spiraling out of control. It feels natural. That, in and of itself, is a little distressing. But that comes as almost an afterthought rather than a concern at the forefront of his mind. It feels good and correct in the most disturbing way.
“So what comes next?” Craig muses aloud. “Where do we go from here?”
“Hmm,” Tweek rubs at his chin a little as he ponders. “I don’t know, man. That part is terrifying. Thinking about the future, grargh, shit.”
“Should we try talking about it more?” Craig suggests cautiously.
“Not tonight,” Tweek says definitively. “That’s way too much. Ack, I’ll probably freak out, harngh… Maybe another time.”
“Thank god,” Craig sighs in relief. “This has been exhausting.”
The pair both lean back into the couch and try to relax and reflect. Then Craig scrunches up his face as he realizes something.
“Wait, you want to do this again?”
“Agh! Oh… Ah! Well? Only if you want to?!” Tweek squawks. “I thought you said you wanted to do this together?”
“I do!” Craig sits upright with urgency and leans forward to place a hand on Tweek’s knee. “I do. I really do!”
He has no idea why he does, but something in his mind has been wholly convinced that this must be the right thing to do. He’s resolved to stand by Tweek’s side through this. Whatever that means.
“Okay,” Tweek looks into his eyes with an intensity he’s sure matches his own. “Then I’ll send you my work schedule. Argh! Except my fucking parents change it around all the time. Fucking assholes, ugh…”
“It’s okay, Tweek. We’ll figure it out.”
Something visibly breaks in Tweek at these words. It’s a simple promise, but somehow it has a strong effect on him. Craig watches as he bites his lower lip to prevent it from wibbling. He wrings his hands in his lap for a moment. Before Craig can process what’s happening, Tweek flings his arms around him. His breath hitches in his throat and any words he might have been attempting to formulate die on his tongue. Tweek’s face buries itself in the crook of Craig’s neck and he clings fervently to Craig’s midsection. He’s caught off guard, but soon enough Craig reacts and his arms fall into place around Tweek’s body. He holds him close just as he did only a few nights ago. It’s with similar urgency, but the tone has shifted. He buries his nose in the vibrant locks of golden hair that poke out every which way and he sighs through his nostrils. Neither seems to be able to speak, so their bodies do the talking. It’s a silent message of foreign yet mutual feelings. It’s fear and gratitude and anticipation and hopeful promise all rolled into the gentle caress of tangled arms and placid breaths. Somehow, this singular embrace has given them both more answers than any conversation could.
Re: Tweek/Craig, ABO, overstimulation
They’re halfway into their meal by the time the conversation feels more organic and natural. Craig can’t really tell if it’s because they’re growing more comfortable together or if it’s because they’ve delayed the inevitable discussion long enough. He takes another bite of his food. It’s the perfect bite. He got a little bit of chicken, some noodles, and even a grilled onion on his fork. He chews thoughtfully and it tastes so familiar. And yet, he’s not exactly feeling the same comfort as he normally would from the routine of eating the same junk food he always gets. It helps the situation a little, but overall… things are still weird.
“This is pretty good,” Tweek comments, twirling his plastic fork around inside the styrofoam container. “Is anything else on the menu good?”
“I dunno,” Craig snorts in reply because he really doesn’t. “I’ve only ever ordered this. But I order it all the time.”
“Really?” Tweek cracks a sideways sort of smile. “You only order the same thing?”
“Don’t see the need to order something else when I know I like this,” Craig shrugs.
“Hmph, but what if you’d like something better?” Tweek counters and pops a particularly large chunk of chicken in his mouth.
“But what if I order something and I don’t like it?” Craig frowns through his response. “That would be a waste of my time, money, and food.”
He watches Tweek chew for a moment and thinks about what Craig’s just said. It’s hard to keep frowning when Tweek looks just like a hamster with his cheek all puffed out like that.
“Kinda says a lot about you, don’t you think?” Tweek finally says when he’s swallowed his food.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Craig narrows his eyes defensively.
“What’s your favorite color?” Tweek snaps back with another question instead of answering.
“Uh… I dunno?” Craig blinks rapidly a few times, taken aback.
“Pick one.”
“Um, blue? I guess?”
“Interesting,” Tweek hums at this and goes back to fussing with his disposable fork. “You’re a very pragmatic person, aren’t you?”
Craig grunts in a noncommittal sort of way. He’s heard that word before, but he’s not really sure what it means. He also wouldn’t have guessed Tweek had this nearly shrewd and mysterious side to him. It’s pretty unclear to him if he’s been insulted or not. Since he doesn’t want to somehow veer this odd discussion into a distinctly negative realm and mess everything up somehow, he opts not to launch his own line of interrogation and instead busies himself with another heaping bite from his to-go box.
“I, hngh, I wouldn’t normally get food from this kind of place,” Tweek continues airily, and it prompts Craig to glance back up at him. “They put chemical additives in cheap Chinese food.”
“Rumors about MSG have been debunked multiple times, Tweek,” Craig states flatly.
“MSG?” Tweek raises an eyebrow. “No, dude, I know that stuff’s harmless. It’s the other stuff you gotta watch out for. They put addictive chemicals in there to make you buy it more often. You crave it, man. It’s all a conspiracy to boost the economy through the constant cycle of buying Chinese food and then needing more and more of it!”
“Addictive chemicals that make you want more of it,” Craig repeats skeptically. “Sounds like caffeine.”
“Augh, but coffee tastes good and helps people start their day,” Tweek gives him a genuine look that makes Craig realize he’s serious.
They stare at each other in mutual disbelief for a moment before Tweek carries on.
“Anyway,” he continues and finally drops his fork. “None of it really matters because I’m probably craving junk food from, ngh, you know… the hormones.”
Craig groans and drops his fork, too.
“Look, I know I already said all this, but I’m so sorry,” Craig doesn’t like the way his voice strains through the words. “That’s not the way this should have happened.”
“And I already said this, too, but it’s okay,” Tweek smiles, but it’s sort of a sad and distant expression rather than a sincere visage. “I mean, argh, I played my part in it. I’m trying not to think too much about it or, ngh, I start getting way too anxious.”
“Yeah, but,” Craig gestures vaguely, trying to fully express himself and struggling, “it was your first time. No one’s first should end up in a really drastic, life-altering situation.”
“True,” Tweek agrees. “Grarghgh, that’s just my luck though, man. Not only do I end up an omega, but I immediately end up pregnant! It’s like everything’s out to get me!”
“I mean my first time was pretty awful, but not this extreme,” Craig gives a dry chuckle. “I hooked up with a complete stranger and I started to knot within about 2 minutes.”
He’s said it before he realizes it slipped out. He doesn’t know why he admitted that– he’s never told anyone before and had pretty much planned on taking that embarrassing moment with him to the grave. Craig dips his head low and hopes he’s not flushing too noticeably. He tries to regain composure and hopefully brush it off.
“Hmm,” Tweek hums with a sagely, knowing smile and resumes idly pushing the noodles across the styrofoam container. “Yeah, I think everyone’s first time is pretty awkward. Hanhrgh, mine was definitely weird.”
Craig feels a sudden pain under his ribs. He wants to brush it off as the result of far too much sodium intake, but he can’t fool himself. Tweek just told him his first time was weird in such a nonchalant manner, right to his face. It stings and he can’t help but internally acknowledge it. An insecure voice rings in the back of his head and echoes with the words Annie spat at him earlier in the day. Maybe it’s true. Maybe no one wants him.
“Oh,” he says through a tight jaw. “I’m sorry you felt that way.”
Tweek squints at this and leans forward. He lifts the container from his lap and places it on the coffee table. Those gem-like eyes with the heavy bags below them study Craig in the most curious fashion and make him feel seen both inside and out in a way that gives him goosebumps.
“Wait,” Tweek speaks slowly, staring directly into Craig’s own eyes in a way that makes him squirm. “Did you think… Agh, did you think the other night was my first time…?”
“W-well,” Craig stammers uncomfortably. “It was your first heat.”
“Mmph, yeah, it was my first heat, dude,” Tweek tilts his head. “But it wasn’t my first time.”
“But it was your first heat?” Craig repeats himself as a question, his confusion mounting and slowly replacing the twinge of his briefly shattered ego.
“Craig…” Tweek begins slowly as if he’s carefully choosing his words. “Do you think… Ack! God, I hate saying this... I’m getting stressed! Do you… Do you think people only have sex to procreate?”
“No,” Craig scoffs immediately as if the implication is ridiculous. “Of course not. I’ve had a bunch of ruts and I can promise you I’ve never once tried to get someone pregnant. Even though… I sorta just did. Ugh.”
Tweek stares at him with those wide eyes for a bit longer, really scrutinizing him. It makes him feel distressingly perceived, and while it makes his skin crawl and his heartbeat race, he doesn’t particularly hate it to the point where he wants to make it stop. Tweek’s giving Craig that strange look again. It’s the one that he suspects makes Tweek think that if he ogles him long enough, he’ll suddenly know all the answers to everything. Craig doesn’t have the heart to admit that he’s feeling more lost than ever.
“Grgh,” Tweek visibly struggles to maintain his composure and prevent himself from having a nervous outburst over the discussion. “Do you only have sex, mnph, during a rut?”
“I mean, isn’t that pretty much the main time to have sex?”
“I guess,” Tweek agrees in a way that indicates he doesn’t really agree. “But what about betas?”
“What about them?” Craig narrows his eyes, failing to understand what that has to do with anything.
“Betas don’t have heats.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“They don’t have ruts, either,” Tweek tacks on, but Craig isn’t sure to what end.
He blinks a few times and he glances side to side.
“Grrr, Craig, I thought I was a beta until only a few days ago,” Tweek spells it all out for Craig, even though this has just been a series of facts he already knows.
“Okay…?”
“Craig, why aren’t you getting it?!” Tweek makes a hissing, squeaking kind of noise as he fails to get the point across to Craig. “Betas still have sex, man! They don’t go in cycles, dude. I’m telling you I’ve had sex before becoming an omega, why is that so hard to get?”
Craig suddenly feels very embarrassed. He, of course, knew all of this on some level before. It was never relevant to his personal experience, though, so he never really examined it very much. Of course, people have sex. Now he wonders if maybe he’s the weird one.
“I know,” he grumbles defensively. “It’s not like I’ve never slept with a beta.”
“Did you present early?” Tweek asks gently.
“Yeah,” Craig nods. “Pretty much went through both puberties back to back.”
“That makes sense,” Tweek nods. “So it’s like, why would you have considered anything else? Argh, our education system is a mess, man. It’s so mechanical, doesn’t teach anyone the um, ngh, you know, human aspect of it.”
“I guess,” Craig shrugs, but it’s less from indifference and more from the fact that he’s being faced with subject matter he’s never actively put thought to before.
“Anyway,” Tweek clucks his tongue and reels the conversation back in. “It was definitely my first time since presenting as an omega. And I’ve had time to think about it since then.”
Craig raises an inquisitive eyebrow at this and they make eye contact. It results in Tweek producing a truly terrible (yet somehow endearing) garbled, anxious laugh.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Tweek jitters and wrings his hands. “It’s, urkh, basically all I’ve been able to think about. And the more I think about it, the more confusing it is?! I have so many questions, man. And I want to ask you questions but I don’t want to scare you away, I don’t think you have all the answers but maybe you have some of the answers and even if you don’t I want you to know about the questions! Wagghh! It’s all so much, oh Jesus, why am I saying all of this so suddenly?! I’m freaking out here, man! I can’t keep it in anymore!”
That was a lot just there, and Craig feels dizzy from the many concerns bled all together into one jumbly thought. But still, he tries to hone in and focus. Tweek’s breathing has, in an instant, gone from steady and normal to frantic and ragged. He’s noticeably shaking and his hands keep finding clumps of his own hair to tug on. Craig leans forward and remains calm.
“I’m listening,” Craig leans in and speaks softly yet firmly. “You’re not going to scare me away, dude.”
And Tweek responds immediately. He hiccups and jerks his neck to look back at Craig. His eyes search him for sincerity and Craig can only hope he’s exuding it for him. A moment flits by and then Tweek calms himself enough to speak up in a small voice.
“Why did I have to present as an omega?” Tweek laments. “Especially after I had finally, ugh, got a little bit comfortable with my life…”
“I don’t know,” Craig deadpans, not really prepared to have so immediately been unable to answer a question.
“Pfft, Craig,” Tweek gives him a cheeky little smile, even though his eyes are still a bit wistful. “It was a rhetorical question.”
“Oh.”
“But, angh, like I said before. The messed up thing is I really did like being in heat,” he slumps a bit as he admits it.
“Well,” Craig chews the side of his cheek thoughtfully. “I think we’re kinda programmed to like it, you know?”
“I guess,” Tweek agrees. “As out of control as I felt… For the first time in my life, I kinda felt like I was in control? Argh! That makes no sense. But… it felt right. Like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. Like I want to do it again.”
Craig mulls that over for a moment. While it doesn’t really reflect his general sentiments on how it feels to lose control to the swells of lust, he sort of somehow agrees with this. At least, that’s how he felt this last time around. He really felt like he was doing something right for once. Granted, it obviously backfired. But that feeling can’t be hollow, can it?
“Maybe that’s the hormones talking,” Tweek groans after a long moment of Craig’s lack of response.
“No, I was just thinking,” Craig waves a dismissive hand. “I… I agree, actually. It felt right. More right than usual.”
“I am pretty hormonal, though,” Tweek coughs up a single, ugly chortle that makes a stupid little smile pull at the corners of Craig’s lips through its absurdity.
It’s strange. By all accounts, he should feel much more stressed about that statement. He’s the very reason Tweek is hormonal, after all. But he doesn’t. The conversation is uncomfortable, as it sort of should be by design. But he’s not angry and he’s not feeling like he’s spiraling out of control. It feels natural. That, in and of itself, is a little distressing. But that comes as almost an afterthought rather than a concern at the forefront of his mind. It feels good and correct in the most disturbing way.
“So what comes next?” Craig muses aloud. “Where do we go from here?”
“Hmm,” Tweek rubs at his chin a little as he ponders. “I don’t know, man. That part is terrifying. Thinking about the future, grargh, shit.”
“Should we try talking about it more?” Craig suggests cautiously.
“Not tonight,” Tweek says definitively. “That’s way too much. Ack, I’ll probably freak out, harngh… Maybe another time.”
“Thank god,” Craig sighs in relief. “This has been exhausting.”
The pair both lean back into the couch and try to relax and reflect. Then Craig scrunches up his face as he realizes something.
“Wait, you want to do this again?”
“Agh! Oh… Ah! Well? Only if you want to?!” Tweek squawks. “I thought you said you wanted to do this together?”
“I do!” Craig sits upright with urgency and leans forward to place a hand on Tweek’s knee. “I do. I really do!”
He has no idea why he does, but something in his mind has been wholly convinced that this must be the right thing to do. He’s resolved to stand by Tweek’s side through this. Whatever that means.
“Okay,” Tweek looks into his eyes with an intensity he’s sure matches his own. “Then I’ll send you my work schedule. Argh! Except my fucking parents change it around all the time. Fucking assholes, ugh…”
“It’s okay, Tweek. We’ll figure it out.”
Something visibly breaks in Tweek at these words. It’s a simple promise, but somehow it has a strong effect on him. Craig watches as he bites his lower lip to prevent it from wibbling. He wrings his hands in his lap for a moment. Before Craig can process what’s happening, Tweek flings his arms around him. His breath hitches in his throat and any words he might have been attempting to formulate die on his tongue. Tweek’s face buries itself in the crook of Craig’s neck and he clings fervently to Craig’s midsection. He’s caught off guard, but soon enough Craig reacts and his arms fall into place around Tweek’s body. He holds him close just as he did only a few nights ago. It’s with similar urgency, but the tone has shifted. He buries his nose in the vibrant locks of golden hair that poke out every which way and he sighs through his nostrils. Neither seems to be able to speak, so their bodies do the talking. It’s a silent message of foreign yet mutual feelings. It’s fear and gratitude and anticipation and hopeful promise all rolled into the gentle caress of tangled arms and placid breaths. Somehow, this singular embrace has given them both more answers than any conversation could.